Bobby Doyle is Missing: A Rich Vitelli Mystery: A Rich Vitelli Mystery

By Gene Masters

When Marauders' star quarterback Bobby Doyle goes missing, it starts a chain reaction that pairs Metro Police Detective Rich Vitelli with his old FBI buddy Eric Maddox in a desperate search for the missing athlete. As their search begins, Vitelli is astonished to discover that there is another, parallel, effort to find Bobby Doyle, and whoever is behind it will happily resort to murder to find him. The circumstances surrounding the football player's disappearance are convoluted to say the least, and end up involving not only the Russian mob, but Vitelli's old nemesis, Anubis Cline. This is the third in the Rich Vitelli Mystery Series.  The first is The Dry Cleaner; the second is True Believers. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gene Masters
• Release date: Oct 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215179086

Book preview

Chapter 1

It was the best run the professional football Marauders had made since the city was awarded a league franchise six years ago.  Here it was, not halfway into the regular season, and the team was 6-1, and at the top of its division.  Also, by all accounts, it was all due to the brilliant play of its rookie quarterback, Bobby Doyle, out of Boston College.

Frank Daugherty, the spokesman for the consortium that owned the team, had credited the team’s coach and general manager, Jesse James Ferguson, with his wise selection of the underrated young black quarterback in the eleventh round of the previous draft.

I saw that the kid had what it takes to be great, Ferguson was quoted as saying.  All he needed was a good enough offensive line in front of him, and a couple of decent receivers.  BC didn’t have them, but, thanks to a couple of other good picks, the Marauders do!

The truth was that the team desperately needed a halfway decent backup for its franchise quarterback, Donny Nolan, and Doyle was the only halfway decent quarterback left in the eleventh round.  But what if Nolan had not broken his collarbone on the team’s first seasonal outing, and if Doyle had not won the game going away in relief?  Wouldn’t Doyle still be warming the bench behind whomever the team got to replace Nolan?  But, sometimes, bad luck just brings on better luck, and Nolan’s ill fortune was the Marauders’ gain.

Doyle played brilliantly in the next two games as well, and the Marauders won both of them going away.

But the Marauders’ good fortune would soon take a turn for the worse.

Chapter 2

It was a pretty elaborate plan, even if Alvaro said so himself.  

Alvaro Gomez had it in for Bobby Doyle ever since Doyle had ruined Alvaro’s baby sister, Elaina’s, life.  That was back in Doyle’s junior year at Boston College.  Of course, Elaina was equally to blame, even if Alvaro refused to admit it—a freshman English Lit major going bananas over her team’s quarterback was just stupid.  She told Alvaro that she had met Doyle at a party one night, and they both had had too much to drink.  It just happened, she said, and only that one time.  When I told him afterward, when I found out I was pregnant, he said it couldn’t be his, and maybe I should think about getting rid of it.  But I could never have done that.  

So it was that Gomez’s baby sister admittedly did a stupid thing, and she was resigned to living with the consequences of her actions.  But, as Alvaro saw things, there was still no excuse for the way Doyle took advantage of Elaina.  He had used her, and then discarded her like a dirty Kleenex.  But Alvaro was going to get even for that.  He was going to make Bobby Doyle pay for what he had done to his sister.

Oh, he knew the line—the nuns who taught him in grade school had drummed it into him—Revenge is mine, sayeth the Lord.

Well, now Alvaro intended to give the Lord a little help.

Return to TOC

Chapter 3

When all this began , Alvaro had just begun his job as an apprentice welder at Bath Iron Works in Maine.  Bath was just 130 miles north of Roxbury, in Boston, where Alvaro, Elaina, and their older sister Juana, were born and raised.  About the same time, Bobby Doyle, also from Roxbury, both black and a Catholic, was awarded a scholarship to Boston Memorial Catholic.  At BMC, Bobby excelled not only on the school’s football team, but also on the running track and on the basketball court.

Elaina was still in the seventh grade at the time, in Dearborn Middle School in Roxbury.  She was bright, and Dearborn was one of the best public schools in the area;  Alvaro, not so much, but he had already decided by then that all he wanted was to work with his hands.  He enrolled in Boston Joint Apprentice Training Center (JACT) in nearby Dorchester, where he took up welding.

Then each of the three went on to do their own thing: both Bobby and Elaina went on to Boston College, and Alvaro went up to Bath.

PUERTO RICANS COME from some tightly knit families, and the Gomez family was no exception.  Alvaro was not much of a letter writer—who is these days?—but he called home regularly, not just because Mami, Violetta Gomez, expected it, but also because it would never occur to Alvaro to ever let Mami down.  So, when Elaina dropped out of BC because she was pregnant, Alvaro heard about it right away.  And he was on the next bus back to Boston.

Violetta and Papi (Jorge Gomez) were beside themselves. Elaina was spending most of her time crying in the room she used to share with her big sister, Juana.  Of course, she had lost her scholarship when she dropped out of school, and she could not seem to hold a job.  Eventually, Elaina just moped about the house, depressed, and she ate.  And she got very big—not just pregnant big.

Juana, who had also disappointed her parents by running off and marrying (in Alvaro’s considered opinion, a good-for-nothing cerdo) Peter Vargas, would now make sarcastic remarks.  She would go on about how Papi’s pride and joy, his blessed Elaina, had really disgraced the family.  Alvaro countered with "So Juana, we should be so proud because you, at least, ran off and married Vargas after you slept with him?"

The more Elaina moped, the more Alvaro became ever more obsessed with getting even, and punishing Bobby Doyle.  He brooded, thinking of ways to make Doyle suffer for what he had done to his baby sister.

After that, most weeks, Alvaro would come back home to be with the family.  He was making good money by then, and could afford to buy a decent used car, so at least he did not have to depend on the bus schedules.  When he thought he had accumulated enough cash to pay a lawyer, he visited one, asking what he could legally do to make Bobby Doyle pay for ruining Elaina’s life.

Wait ‘til the child is born, Anthony J. Reilly, Esq., explained.  "DNA testing will prove beyond doubt that Doyle is the father.  You are sure that Doyle is the father, aren’t you?" the lawyer asked.

No doubt whatsoever, Alvaro replied, and the suit was filed.

The following month, Bobby Doyle was stopped on the Boston College Newton campus while walking between classes.  A young woman he did not know stopped him, and thrust a large envelope into his hand.  When he took it with a confused look, she said You have been served, and then turned and walked away.  Opening the envelope, Doyle was nonplussed, discovering that he was being sued.

Once the suit was filed, Alvaro decided to hold Doyle’s feet to the fire, and released copies of the filing of the filing to both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald.  Both newspapers called the Gomez residence, asking to interview Elaina.  Jorge intercepted their calls and impolitely refused. Doyle, apparently, had been less reticent, and issued a statement that he was completely innocent of the charges.

Both papers went on to publish the fact that Doyle had been sued over the paternity of the unborn child of Elaina Gomez, and when questioned, Doyle denied that the suit had any substance.  Ms. Gomez, however, had refused to issue a statement.

A representative of the Boston College administration, also asked for comment, said they never commented on ongoing litigation.  But they also would not comment on any decision as to whether Doyle would remain on the football team, and play out his senior year.

What thus might have been a major news story, because of Elaina’s reticence, was relegated to two short paragraphs on the second and third pages of the respective newspapers.  Bobby Doyle’s college football career, meanwhile, never actually skipped a beat; for the time being, at least, he kept his scholarship and practiced with the team.  And Alvaro was even more incensed at his failure to make Bobby Doyle suffer in the least for what he had done.

Return to TOC

Chapter 4

Things at the Gomez home got steadily worse thereafter.  Elaina had carried her child for five months, at which point she said she could no longer feel the baby move inside her.  Her doctor, not hearing a heartbeat, did some further tests, and told Elaina that sadly her baby had died inside her.  She then learned that she would have to carry the child to term, and deliver a stillborn.  With that, Elaina went into what the doctor said was severe depression, and grew even fatter.  Jorge, in turn, not only worried about Elaina’s mental state, he mourned the loss of a prospective grandchild.  Jorge already had had one heart attack, and his preexisting heart problem got worse and worse.

Violetta called in their parish priest, Father Gilligan, to come to the house and counsel Elaina.  He did, and after a session with her, told both parents that Elaina was obviously clinically depressed, and the she needed more professional help than he could provide.  He suggested they contact Catholic Charities Boston, which would provide professional counseling for free.  But Jorge balked, saying, Bringing in the priest is one thing, taking charity another.  I will not hang our dirty laundry out in public!

Meanwhile, Alvaro was doing really well on the job, and had risen quickly from apprentice to journeyman.  He would lose himself and his troubles daily, concentrating on nothing else but the laying down of smooth, continuous beads of weld, taking great satisfaction in the quality of his work.  The good money he had been making grew even better.  Never a gregarious individual, he had no life outside of work, and he just kept salting his wages away.  Pretty soon, he had built up what anyone would consider a small fortune in his bank account.

Then he got a call from Violetta that they had found Elaina in the bathtub with her wrists slit.  Luckily, they had found her before she bled out, and the EMTs had gotten her to the hospital in time to save her.  Oh yeah, Violetta said, "and the whole thing gave Papi another heart attack—but he is home, now, and he’s okay."

Jorge could not have been all that okay, because right after Elaina was transferred into rehab, he had another—this time massive—heart attack, and died.  It was just one more thing Alvaro considered Bobby Doyle had to answer for.

Somehow, in rehab, Elaina got hold of some pills.  This time, they did not find her in time.  They buried her just two weeks after they buried Jorge.  Now, for all that, Alvaro determined that Bobby Doyle had to die!

With Elaina gone, it became senseless to retain Anthony J. Reilly, Esq.  No longer on retainer, and with the cause for any legal redress now moot, Reilly formally withdrew the suit.  With that, the Boston College administration quietly told Doyle that he could remain on the team, and play his senior year.

Soon afterward, Alvaro passed the Master Welder certification test.  Then, Violetta, now living all by herself, decided to give up their apartment and move in with Juana and Pete.  Alvaro, who could never stand being around his brother-in-law, could not fathom how his Mami was able to stomach Pete, much less live with him.  Alvaro decided, therefore, that he did not even have a home to come and visit on weekends.

Through all of this, the image of Bobby Doyle was never far from Alvaro’s mind.  Bobby Doyle, and Bobby Doyle alone, was responsible for the misery his mindless seduction of Alvaro’s baby sister had brought down on Alvaro’s family.  And now that he was a master welder, with a very healthy bank account, Alvaro enacted a scheme that would make Bobby Doyle pay with his life.

But now he also decided, that before he killed him, Bobby Doyle would know why his life was forfeit, and maybe even beg Alvaro to kill him.  Dying is too easy, Alvaro thought, Bobby Doyle must be made to suffer first.

Return to TOC

Chapter 5

B obby Doyle is missing , Johnny Fowler said when Rich Vitelli showed up at Metro Police headquarters that Wednesday morning.

What? Vitelli questioned.  You’re kidding, right?  Our Marauders star quarterback?

The very same, Fowler answered.  The Captain said he would fill you in on the details, and he wants to see you right away!

Guess that means I get my coffee later, Vitelli said with a smirk, as he made his way to his boss’s office.  He rapped on Captain Parker’s rickety, glass-paneled office door, and found Parker sitting behind his ancient mahogany desk, head down, looking even smaller than his maybe five foot five frame.

What’s up, chief? Vitelli asked.

Parker had been head of Metro Police Missing Persons for three years before Vitelli had transferred over from Homicide.  That was just over six years ago.  Vitelli’s wife, Margie, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Vitelli’s response to his wife’s suffering was to throw himself into his work.  He had been hard at it, working on a particularly nasty homicide case, when he was notified that she was in her hospital room, dying, and asking for him.  Unfortunately, he arrived too late to be there when she passed.  It was remorse that caused him to abandon the frenetic pace of Homicide and transfer to the relatively slower world of Missing Persons.  And nobody was happier to get him then Parker, although you would never know it from the way he greeted Vitelli that particular morning:

Nice of you to join us this morning, Lieutenant! Parker said, without even looking up. Parker’s peripatetic disposition was a thing of legend throughout Metro.  But it was a side of him that